Out Loud: Carl Haber and the Earliest Recorded Sounds

In the latest issue of The New Yorker, Alec Wilkinson writes about Carl Haber, an experimental physicist who discovered a way to use the same ultra-sensitive detectors found in the CERN particle collider to resurrect previously unplayable recordings from the earliest days of recorded sound. Wilkinson discusses the discovery with Curtis Fox on this week’s Out Loud podcast. Wilkinson says, “Here he is among some of the most highly regarded physicists in America, saying, ‘Gee, I have this new idea: I’m going to measure the grooves on records.’ I don’t know that he was derided, but I think that people thought that this was not exactly a high calling. But of course it’s had an enormous impact on being able to save an extremely diverse collection of archive material.” Haber also appears on the podcast to discuss his breakthrough and to share some of the unearthed recordings, including what he believes to be the world’s earliest recorded obscenity.